Prices in Phoenix Get Boost from Thinning Foreclosure Inventory

Phoenix home prices continue to rise, while investment activity appears to be slowing down, according to a report from ""DataQuick"":http://www.dataquick.com/.

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From January to August, the number of homes lost to foreclosure totaled 19,998, a decrease of 49.5 percent from the same period a year ago, San-Diego-based DataQuick reported. The company tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

However, month-over-month, foreclosures increased, with lenders foreclosing on 3,060 Phoenix-area houses and condo units in August, up 30.2 percent from the month before, but still down 25 percent from a year earlier.

The share of absentee buyers remained high but was down to 39.7 percent, a drop from 41.7 percent the month before and 44 percent a year ago. Absentee buyers also paid more in August, with the median price up to $119,000, compared to $118,500 the month before and $97,000 a year ago.

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The share of buyers who purchased Phoenix homes with cash stood at 40.2 percent in August, a drop from 42.6 percent in July and 42.2 percent a year ago.

The record for cash buying was 48 percent in February 2011. In August, cash buyers paid a median $119,000, up from $117,000 the month before and up 40 percent from $85,000 a year earlier.

Prices continued to increase in August, with buyers paying a median $154,119 for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the combined Maricopa-Pinal counties metro area. The price is up 2.7 percent from July and 30.2 percent from August 2011, according to the report.

Despite the significant annual increase, August's median price was still 41.6 percent below the metro's peak price of $264,100 in June 2006.
DataQuick pointed to a ""relatively low supply of homes for sale"" as the reason for the median price increase as well as a rise in the sale of higher-cost homes.

The real estate data provider added the number of bank-owned properties on the market has been falling, leading to fewer distressed sales.

Foreclosure resales, which are homes that were foreclosed on in the prior 12 months, slipped to 19.3 percent of all homes that resold last month. The figure is the lowest since January 2008. In July, 19.5 percent of resales were foreclosures and a year ago, the share was 47.6 percent. At the March 2009 peak, foreclosure resales accounted for 66.2 percent of the resale market in Phoenix.